Communities

I’m an Ubuntu and FOSS kinda guy, I’m not happy with software that isn’t FOSS and I don’t find any sense in proprietisation of code. Having said that there are times when I must be a little more considered and not simply shun an entire site because it’s not foss.

Heaven known that deviantArt is a very proprietary and confused places to know. Bad copyright advice, no public domain option, admins that consistently ignore open formats like png and svg. FOSS Software isn’t promoted at all in any way. So why in Slartibartfast’s fjords would I want to hang my coat over there?

Well no matter what I do there _will_ be artists over there who use Ubuntu, people who may need help with wacom tablets, upgrades or finding help. There will be people who use Windows or Mac but don’t have FOSS tools yet or perhaps wouldn’t do better with Ubuntu instead. There are artists who’d love to get involved with the wider community but for what ever reason are disconnected by social chance.

One of my personal victories is bringing to the winder community the translation of the Ubunchu manga. I even got interviewed on the BBC Blogs Radio show about it. It wouldn’t have been possible if I hadn’t have been keeping an eye on other social circles, if I hadn’t have seen Seotch-san’s original cover on deviantArt.

So I fully support the motion to open a StackExchange Ubuntu location, we need people who are willing to use and support the site. I guess there are about 2,000 people who view the planet during the week and yet there are only 500 people needed for the motion to carry.

7 thoughts on “Communities”

The proposed StackExchange Ubuntu site is a good example of how incredible Ubuntu users are. Along the side of the page you can see what other things the people committed to the Ubuntu proposal are committed to. For most proposals, only 20-30% are committed to just one. But for the Ubuntu proposal, *81.9%* of it’s committed users have only committed to it – meaning that they likely came to StackExchange because of the Ubuntu site.

Hrm. The reason you give for being on DeviantArt is that there are people there already that use Ubuntu, so you’re going to where people are. This is a reasonable argument. However, I don’t think the same is necessarily true of StackExchange. As Dieki said, the vast majority of the people committing to the Ubuntu StackExchange proposal are likely not StackExchange regulars. This matches up with how I’ve seen this idea promoted: it’s mainly coming up in Ubuntu venues directed not at existing StackExchange members, but at the Ubuntu community in general.